As the debate rages on, it's interesting to take a look at how Bushmaster, the gun company that made the AR-15 assault rifle Lanza used, advertised the semiautomatic to the masses. Mother Jones found the following jarring ad in an issue of Maxim:

The bottom of the ad reads, "If it's good enough for the professional, it's good enough for you."

Robert VerBruggen at the National Review writes that the call to increase gun control over said AR-15 is ridiculous, bemoaning the fact that the assault rifle in question isn't that impressive anyway.

"I am doubtful that these reforms would do much to curb gun violence. An 'assault weapon' fires at the same rate as an ordinary semiautomatic rifle, and the .223-caliber ammo in Lanza’s rifle is banned for deer hunting in some states on the grounds that it’s too weak," VerBruggen wrote.